Gipping Gossip Newsletter of the River Gipping Trust– December 2019

GIPPING GOSSIP NEWSLETTER OF THE RIVER GIPPING TRUST– DECEMBER 2019

"This application has triggered one or more Impact Risk Zones, indicating that impacts to statutory designated nature conservation sites (European sites or Sites of Special Scientific Interest) are likely.”

1 WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY, HEALTHY & SUCCESSFUL 2020

It looks like another exciting year ahead for all the River Gipping Trust volunteers & trustees. Work on the bywash and lock at Pipps Ford should be concluded around August. Preparatory work on the new permissive footpath will be starting when weather conditions allow. More significantly the trustees will be embarking on a major Les Howard—Editor fundraising initiative to pay for the new bridge and associated works. Help and ideas welcomed. Les Howard — Editor

INSIDE THIS ISSUE... Wildlife review

Phil Whittaker Local ornithologist

Clear up at Baylham Flood Damage Over the summer the High rain levels docking area by the during the winter bridge had become over- caused blockages grown

2 SECOND ANNUAL RIVER GIPPING TRUST LUNCH WELL ATTENDED Around 30 Trust members and their partners attended the annual lunch held at Rushmere Golf Club. It was an informal event and good humour and mutual friendship prevailed. All members are welcome to attend. Date for 2020 is Sunday 8th November.

3 RGT WORK PARTY PROGRESS REPORT Ian Petchy — Restoration Manager

Work party turnout on Wednesdays has continued to be strong through 2019, with just the odd cancellation due to persistent rain. Most of our work parties over the last year have been at Pipps Ford. Work continues to provide a reinforced ford across the by-wash to enable heavy mechanical equipment to gain access to the lock when required. Plans are progressing for the installation of stop planks over a two week period commencing 27th July 2020. The Trust have arranged for a professional company ‘OnSite’ to install temporary dams called ‘Portadams’ either side of the lock, so that we can pump the lock dry and install the stop planks (portadam.com). Work at Baylham. We continue to complete occasional tidying at the Baylham site and the new scrap store location under an old barn is up and running and working well. Regular Footpath Maintenance The routine mowing and clearance of overhanging branches is continuing, with significant work taking place both downstream and upstream of Pipps Ford to remove overhanging blackthorn scrub, open a few viewing areas of open water and keep the footpath in a usable condition. Where we cut back blackthorn scrub growing between the foot- Tiding up the scrap metal store path and the river we have been planting blackthorn strips on the land-ward side of the path to com- pensate. We have planted a few new trees land-side of the footpath away from the river, but close enough to give some shade from the sun on the river in years to come. We have noticed that the river weed growth seems worse where there is strong direct sunshine.

RGT volunteers clear the weeds and debris accumulated over the summer.

5 Admiring their handiwork

A good mornings work. The bricked quay downstream of the bridge at Baylham Mill restored in 2016

6 Just below the paved quay at Baylham Mill an ivy clad tree had fallen in the river creating a serious obstruction. A happy band of RGT volunteers are seen here cutting up the tree and removing it from the river. A closer look will show the water level almost reaching the tops of the volunteers Wellington boots.

7 The bywash at Pipps Ford at maximum capacity as a result of heavy rain in early December 2019.

The footpath from Pipps Ford to Creeting became impassable when the River Gipping flooded in early December 2019.

8 When the river was in flood in early December 2019 this large tree ended up jammed in the lock at Pipps Ford.

9 RGT volunteers clearing the tree that was blocking the lock at Pipps Ford. Having our own digger is a big help with such tasks

10 RGT volunteers clearing some of the final bits of debris from the River Gipping at Baylham. The winds and heavy rains in the early part of winter 2019 has resulted in a number of trees causing blockages in the river.

11 Wildlife around Pipps Ford Words and photographs by Phil Whittaker19

There has been considerable habitat change with the gravel diggings progressing to finalisation and ongoing restoration to the planned nature reserve. Water levels are still extremely low. Little Ringed Plovers have bred again but only in small numbers as suitable habitat is now less available. Two key species have sadly disappeared this year, New hatch Little Ringed Plover Nightingales not seen for the first time in 25 years and likewise the Turtle Dove. On the plus side, summer visiting Spotted Flycatchers are making a comeback, with two family groups being seen with eight young. Cetti's Warbler with its 'explosive' unmistakeable call, were decimated in Suffolk by the" Beast from the East" in 2018, have been seen (and heard) recently. The largest corvid, the Raven, a huge bird that has not bred in Suffolk since 1880, are now seen here throughout the year. Ospreys were present on two dates in autumn. Other autumnal migrants from the far north were: Whinchat, Wood Sandpiper, Green and Common Sandpipers. In late autumn and winter Snipe and Jack Snipe are seen in quite high numbers. Stonechat has recently overwintered here for the first time. A Peregrine Falcon is a regular and often even roosts high up on pylons. Damsel and Dragonfly populations give testament to the purity of the water in the river, by their profusion in summer. Twenty one species are present with the nationally scarce Scarce Chaser Dragonfly and recent coloniser Willow Emerald Damselfly present in significant numbers. 12 Wood Sandpiper

Stonechat Whinchat

13 Scarce Chaser Dragonfly

Otter spoor seen at Spotted Flycatcher Baylham Mill

14 NEW BRIDGE & FOOTPATH ON RIVER GIPPING AT BAYLHAM NOW ON HOLD The objection from Natural England will mean that the RGT will have to commission a Preliminary Ecological Appraisal Report (PEAR) to ensure that the proposed new bridge will not have any detrimental ef- fect on protected species living in its environs. This will cost something approaching £1000. Experts consulted by the Trust give us every indi- cation that by adding environmentally friendly features to the bridge will in fact enhance the habitats for these creatures. The River Gipping Trust (RGT) is now in the process of restoring part of the footpath at Baylham to its original position of the river’s towpath. The primary objective is to improve the walking experience of those that use the Gipping Way. Several years ago a landowner got permission to divert the footpath from the towpath to avoid his property. This diversion runs alongside the Norwich to London rail track and is very narrow. It then traverses a sloped field and joins Mill Lane, the overall length of the diversions is around 2 kilometres. The main problem with the diversion that in summer the area by the rail track becomes impassable due to very tall nettles and other weeds encroaching from the adjoining land. In wintery wet weather it floods and is impassable without wearing wellington boots. The RGT has got the permission of the current land owners for a permissive footpath that puts it back to the towpath. This will totally remove all the problems associated with the old footpath and walkers will get a much better view of the mill at Baylham. PLANNING PERMISSION AWAITED What makes this project really exciting is that the old bridge across the river will also need to be reinstated as the platform was removed when the footpath was diverted. Fortunately, the original abutments can still be used subject to the recommendations of a structural engineer being carried out. The RGT has already sourced a purpose built bridge that can go between the abutments. Once planning permission for the bridge has been granted by Mid Suffolk District Council work will commence As the purchase of the bridge is beyond the resources of the RGT, we are now embarking on a major fund raising initiative. This project will cost £25,000 and will mainly be carried out by the RGT volunteers. 15

LATEST NEWS RGT has now commissioned Glaven Ecology who will have the PEAR completed by 10.01.20. and the Council has extended our planning permission date to 10.02.20

16 This photographs clearly shows how badly the footpath floods after heavy rainfall.

17 The same footpath as on the previous page in the height of summer.

18 Drone shot of the bridge abutments taken by Nathan Whittaker.

The new bridge will be of a similar design to this one.

19 FACTS YOU PROBABLY DID NOT KNOW ABOUT STOWMARKET

A Stowmarket’s Memorial Gates dedication service in 1920 had one of the early snippets of newsreel film dedicated to it and was shown in the early cinemas across the county.

B Of all the names of the brave men from all three services who died in both the First and Second World Wars listed on the plaques, there is only one female who is also the only civilian mentioned as one of the War dead. She was Mrs Rhoda Farrow who was unfortunate to be the only fatality in the town during the whole of the Second World War. She had just seen her son off from Stowmarket Railway Station to go back to his RAF unit near Manchester and returned to her Kensington Road house just as bombs were dropped, destroying the old Congregational Church in Ipswich Street, as well as her house immediately behind the church.

C The top of St Mary-le-Tower’s tower in Ipswich is roughly the same height above sea level as the River Gipping near Stow- market Station.

D The Rev. Thomas Young, who was the poet, John Milton’s tutor at Cambridge, was vicar at Stowmarket in the 1600s and was also the person who invited and paid for Matthew Hopkins, the ‘Witchfinder General’, to come to the town. He was reported to have found two unfortunate women that were tried as witches. . E The ‘tonic sol-fa’ (doe, ray, me, far, so, la, tee, doe, - as used in the ‘Sound of Music’ film) music notation system was devised by John Curwen in 1841–42, while he was minister of Stowmarket’ Congregational Church.

20 .F The original place name for this settlement was Thorney, which means ‘isle of thorns’, a distinction it shares with the site of Westminster Palace and Cathedral in London. It originally denoted a safe crossing place through marshland and rivers etc. However, due to the fact that in the 12th Century the town was granted a licence to hold a market for the hundred of Stow (which means the place), the place quickly became known as Stow’s – market and simplified to what it is today.

G When the railway was first brought to Stowmarket in the 1840s, the track layers encountered many problems as they approached the site near to the where the station now is situat- ed. They would lay several metres of track only to return a day or so later to find their work had disappeared completely into the boggy ground and hopelessly un-recoverable. This happened more than once and so a way had to be found to ‘float’ the rails over this large section using thousands of faggots of willow staves and osiers and combined with vast quantities of soil from the surrounding countryside. The mission was successfully completed by 1844.

H From the late eighteenth through to the early twentieth Centu- ries, Stowmarket was second only to Burton-on-Trent for its malt product output. At its height the town had 17maltings scattered around the town, with the bulk of them along the river bank.

21 I The beginning of forensic science The team gathered together by a government directive to investigate the causes of the ‘Guncotton Explosion’ of Friday August 11, 1871, has been acknowledged as being the official start of the ‘forensic science’ department that is used on many crime scenes today. Two explosions occurred at Prentice’s Gun Cotton factory which killed 28 people, mostly workers at the factory but also some people who had run to the factory after the first explosion and who were caught in the second explosion, including two members of the Prentice Family.

Photographs from Stowmarket Archive

22 Memories of our dear friend Don Brazinski

It is with great sadness we learn of the passing on Sunday, November 24th, 2019 of Donald Brazinski at the age of 88. He was a stalwart member of the RGT until his return to the USA in 2013.

Donald was born on 23rd January1931 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to Frank and Mary Brazinski. He entered the Navy on March 10th, 1948, serving on the Destroyer Repair ship U.S.S Yosemite until March 9th, 1955 with the rank of Optical Man 2nd Class. Donald joined the Air Force on August 5th, 1955 retiring on August 1st, 1969. While on tour of duty in the United Kingdom Donald married Shirley Ann Mower on May 24th, 1961. Shirley and Donald had two children, Alison and Wayne.

Donald had a passion for helping others and took great enjoyment in volunteering, especially with the Inland Waterways Association (Ipswich, Suffolk) canal restoration team. Donald was also an projects with cars, motorcycles and aircraft. For the last 6 years of his life Don- ald was an active member of the Experimental Aviation Association Chapter 461 (EAA 461) at Bolingbrook, Illinois Clow airport. During this time he volunteered for numerous youth activities and worked on a number of aircraft projects and was known to be a very kind, gener- ous, and popular man.

Don through the ages

23 Don Brazinski - Flying below the Radar!

The following is a tribute paid to Don by his fellow work party member John Finch which was published in the Winter 2014 newsletter. In November 2013 Don Brazinski, one of our most valuable and long serving members of the Ipswich IWA, said his sad goodbyes and, after 41 years in England, returned to America.

Don was a larger than life member of our work party. He was in at the birth of our restoration work on the Ipswich & Stowmarket Navigation, a time when we had very little worth speaking of in the way of plant, equipment or money. But Don had a way of making things happen. Does anyone remember the American TV programme, several years ago, called “M.A.S.H” about a field hospital in Vietnam? They had a character, known as "RADAR", who had an uncanny ability of acquir- ing desperately needed items as if from nowhere – Don was our very own “RADAR”. When we started work on Bosmere lock we needed sandbags. The next thing we knew 40 pallets of sandbags turned up on an articulated lorry. These were very quickly followed by such items as Stop Planks and a whole range of tools – the list was end-less. We only had to mention we needed something and it appeared as if by magic. Perhaps I should mention that during this time Don worked for the US Air Force at RAF Bentwaters as Warehouse Supervisor, Store Manag- er and Commissary Officer and was obviously in a very advantageous position to assist the US Air Force in dis-posing of unwanted items when RAF Bentwaters was deactivated in 1993, at which point Don finally retired. I know that none of us are indispensable but Don comes close to that. He will be greatly missed by all his IWA friends and his going will leave a big, big hole in our working party.

Don collecting bricks with Trevor

Don bricklaying with Trevor and Peter

24 This picture shows the footpath upstream of Pipps Ford lock flooded. Plans are afoot in the spring make improvements to prevent future flooding.

This was the scene that greeted volunteers on 17.12.19. Recent heavy rains had caused the river to flood at Pipps Ford this did not prevent work being carried out.

25 This is a similar view from the bridge at Baylham on page 6. The river was in a state of flood on the shortest day.

Looking through the gateway at Baylham where the river had overflowed its’ banks.

26 A view down river from the bridge at Baylham during the flooding

View from the bridge over the bywash at Baylham when the river was in flood on the shortest day of the year.

27 The work hut at Pipps Ford was unreachable on foot during the floods in late December.

The footpath going downstream from the lock at Pipps Ford was impassable during the floods in late December.

28 Trevor Chatting bailing out the work boat prior to launch.

Launching the work boat at Pipps Ford.

29 Photos show the work party clearing overhanging branches from the river. These are the cause of obstructions particularly when the river floods.

30 River bank clearance upstream of Pipps Ford.

RGT volunteers enjoying a well deserved break.

Would you like to help the River Gipping Trust? Do you shop on line at eBay, Amazon, M&S, Boots, Next, Argos, Tesco, Screw- fix, Expedia, booking.com etc. or at thousands of other stores. If you shop through ‘giveasyoulive’ a proportion of the amount you pay will go directly to the River Gipping Trust. Normally around 1 or 2%, but sometimes as much as 10%, at no extra cost to you.

It is simple. You do have to download their app (or visit giveasyoulive.com) and sign up. Then through the app select the store you wish to purchase from, say eBay. It opens up in your normal eBay account, and you buy in exactly the same way as normal. But the River Gipping trust receives a small percentage. Small amounts really do add up. So far we have received over £150 through give as you live. If each member spent just £100 a year on line through ‘giveasyoulive’ the trust would receive at least £100. If when setting up your account you agree to receive emails from ‘giveasyoulive’ they will advise you of your contribution amount.

There is a direct link to ‘giveasyoulive’ from our website:- https://www.rivergippingtrust.org.uk and from our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RGT1790/.